Mental health records reported to NICS system tops 3.7 million

Mental health records reported to NICS system tops 3.7 million

According to FBI data released this week, the number of firearms prohibiting mental health records submitted to the federal background checks database from the states has climbed 10 percent in six months.
The data shows that 3,704,037 active records of those adjudicated on mental health issues that would prohibit legal firearms possession are cataloged in the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System as of Oct. 31, an increase from 3.4 million in April.

When broken down by state submissions, the largest increases can be found in three states that have all recently strengthened their record reporting laws – Nebraska , South Carolina and Minnesota.

The three states with the lowest number of submissions on mental health issues include gun-strict Rhode Island and Massachusetts and gun-liberal South Dakota, all of which currently have fewer than ten prohibiting health records on file with NICS. However all three of those have recently passed reporting legislation to address missing records moving forward.